I don't necessarily need the answer, but I just need to know how to find the answer here.
A car is traveling on a curve that forms a circular arc. The force F needed to keep the car from skidding is jointly proportional to the weight w of the car and the square of its speed s, and is inversely proportional to the radius r of the curve.
A car weighing 1600 lb travels around a curve at 60 mi/h. The next car to round this curve weighs 2500 lb and requires the same force as the first car to keep from skidding. How fast is the second car traveling?
2006-09-26 14:25:02 · 2 answers · asked by James B 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
I am asked to express this as an equation with k, a non zero constant
2006-09-26 14:34:01 · update #1
I keep getting s = 0, this can't be right, can it?
2006-09-26 14:47:08 · update #2
F=1600(60)(60)/r.
F=2500(s^2)/r.
We do not need to know the force or the radius, since they're the same for both equations.
Set them equal to each other (since they're the same force) and solve for s.
2006-09-26 14:30:03 · answer #1 · answered by zex20913 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Make a formula based on what they gave you
F = k * w * s^2 / r^2
K is some constant of proportionality.
Put the values for the first car in the equation.
Put the values for the second equation.
It says the force for both cars is the same so you can set the right side of both equations equal to each other. solve for s in this equation ( hint: k and r^2 will cancel each other out)
2006-09-26 21:37:21 · answer #2 · answered by Demiurge42 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋